Non-tangling device for flags.



.l. B. FOULKES.

NON-TANGLING DEVICE FOR FLAGS.

APPLICATION EILED lULY 3. I917.

1,283,136. Patented ()t. 29, 1918.

A TTORNEYS.

IT ET M 11mm NON-TANGLING DEVICE FOR FLAGS.

Application filed July 3,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN B. FoULKEs, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Utica, in the county of Oneida and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Non- Tangling Devicesfor Flags; and I do here by declare that the following is a full, clear,and exact description thereof, which .will enable others skilled in theartto which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, and tothe reference-numerals markedthereon, which form part of this specification.

My present invention relates to a nontangling device for flags, bannersand the like.

The purpose of my invention is to provide a new and improved form ofnon-tangling device for flags and particularly to provide a device thatis simple in construction and readily adapted to be applied to a greatvariety of flags and banners.

A further purpose is to provide an article which is so simple that itmay be made and sold atvery small price whereby the article may be usedeven where economy has to be considered.

A further purposeof myinvention is to provide an article that is of suchconstruction that although the flag is prevented from tangling 0rwrapping itself about the flag staff yet the flag-is not positivelyconnected to any partof the'de'vice except at the staff edge binding orgromet of the flag thus allowingthe flag to fly or hang in an entirelynatural position and relieving the flag from the strain that arises whenany of the waving part of the flag is fastened to a rigid or semi-rigidpart of a nonrtangling device.

A further purpose of my invention is to provide an article of the classdescribed that may be used either with fiagswhich are permanentlysecured in position upon their staff or with flags that are movablelongitudinally of their .stafir A still further purpose of my presentinvention is to provide an article of such form, construction andmaterial that it may be readily made of ordinary wire or small metal rodmaterial without the use of any special parts in the device and withoutrequiring elaborate machinery or skilled Workmen in its manufacture.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 29, 1918. 1917. Serial No. 178,4L40.

A further purpose of my invention is to provide a non-tangling device ofsuch form and cooperation with the flag and pole that one device will besufficient for an ordinary flag and yet two or more may be used uponlarger sizes of flags Without interfering with each other or injuringthe flag.

A still further purpose of my invention is to provide a device that maybe and preferably will be positioned intermediate the width oftheflagvand yet will not prevent the fiagbeing spaced the ordinary distancefrom the pole at that point whereby the natural appearance of the flagis maintained and thepresence of the device is rendered unnoticeable.

Further purposes and advantages of my invention will appear from thespecification and claims hereinafter set forth.

Figure 1 is a side view of a flag upon a staff equipped with a deviceembodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on scale on line 22 of Fig. 1. d

Fig. 3 is a similar sectional view but upon a still larger scale of thestaff end of the device and adjacent part of the flag and stafi.

Fig. 4: is a sideelevation of the parts shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 shows my device applied to a flag and stafi where the flag isfixedly secured to the staff.

Referring to the drawings in a more particular description, and first toFigs. 1 and 4, it will beseen that I have shown a flag 6 mounted upon aflag-staff or pole 7 so as to be moved longitudinally thereof in theordinary way as by means of the halyards 8 being secured to the staffedge border or gromet 9 of the flag and with said halyards runningthrough the usual eyes 10 in the button or truck 11 at the outer end ofthe staff 7, with the halyards fastened in any desired way at the baseend of the staff as to an ear 12.

My non-tangling flag device comprises an elongated U-shaped member 13conveniently and preferably composed of wire or metal mlOd or othermaterial similarly adapted to be readily formed into desired shape andmaintain its shape in use. This U-shaped member is loosely mounted uponthe staff 7 so as to swing or rotate thereon as required when the flagswings or rotates. l/Vhere as in an enlarged the construction shown inFigs. 1 to 4: the

flag is to be moved longitudinally of the flag-staff the U-shapedmember. will also slide or move longitudinally of the fiag stafi withand as the flag is moved. A convenient form of thus mounting the member13 upon the flag-staff is to provide a loop 1 f surrounding theflag-staff and fitting sufficiently loose thereupon so as to freelyswing upon and move longitudinally of the staff and yet sufficientlytight to make thearms 15 and 16 of the U-shaped member extend out fromthe flag-staff 7 at about right angles to the staff.

The elongated arms 15 and 16 of the U- shaped member 13 start from saidmember 13 at. a point close to the staff and then spread out from eachother a short distance and then extend outward from the staff insubstantially the same direction and parallel or nearly parallel to eachother, providing a long open-ended slot 17 between said arms. The deviceis mounted upon the staff with the arms 15 and 16 upon opposite sides ofthe flag 6 or in other words the arms of the device straddle the flagfrom the staff edge of the flag outward to the desired extent.

The outer ends of the arms are provided with means for preventing thesaid arms from puncturing or tearing or wearing the flag, said meansbeing a suflicientfenlargement of some sort, a convenient and thepreferable means as shown in the drawings being to have a loop or eye 18formed upon the outer ends of the arms 15 and 16, said loops beingpositioned flatwise to the flag.

The device is mounted so as to be positioned relative to the flag aboutmidway the width of the flag as indicated in Fig. 1. For ordinary sizedflags one of my devices is sufficient to prevent the flag becomingwrapped about the staff or becoming tangled or snarled upon itself, thehalyards or the staff. Where desired, however, as upon very large flagstwo or more of my devices may be used, being spaced across the width ofthe flag as desired. Where only one of my devices is used with a flag itwill be preferably located about midway of the width of the flag, butthis position maybe varied considerably without impairing the efficiencyof the device. It is important, however, that the device be mountedintermediate the staff edge corners of the device instead of too neareither of the longitudinal edges of the flag. In order to hold thedevice in proper position relative to the width of the flag, means areprovided to loosely connect the base of the elongated U-shaped member tothe adjacent part of the staff edge of the flag. As such means I haveshown a double hooked member 19, having one hook 20 hooked into anopening 21 conveniently provided upon the base of the U-shaped memberand the other hook 22 engaging an eye provided in the staff edge binding9 of the flag. Obviously a string or cord may be used as such connectingmeans in place of the hook mentioned.

It will now be seen that while the base of the U-shaped member isloosely mounted upon the staff and said base loosely consaid"'ar1ns 15and 16 will )revcnt the fla from folding back closely upon the pole.

Where the arms are about half the length of' the flag the outer end ofthe flag will not wrap about the pole at all. lVhere the arms are alittle less than half the length of the flag the end of the flagmaytouch the staff and loosely fold over the staff, but not to an extentsufficient to let the flag get tangled. The slight touching of the outerend of the staff will add to the natural appearance and freedom of theflag, but the end thus overturned will at-once free itself from thestaff. Although the device is very loosely connected to the flag-itsrelation 'to'the staff is such that the arms of the device will extendoutjfrom thestaif at about right angles to the staff on opposite sidesof the flag as indicated in Fig l orthe outer end may swing quite a fewdegrees with the base of the U- shaped member maintaining its position.The arms, however, will not vary from their middle position relative tothe flag enough to interfere with the effectiveness of the device. Inthis way the device is always kept straddling about the middle part ofthe flag and does not project beyond either of its longitudinal edgesnorits edge opposite the staff edge of the flag. As the flag is notconnected to the device except at the gromet or staff edge bindingwhere'there is no strain, it will be seen that the flag while heldgenerally in the outspread position seen, is not subjected to any strainor tension or wear. The flag can draw in or out or up or down throughthe openended slot 17 without interference or strain upon the flag. Itwill be seen especially that'the longitudinal edges of the flag areentirely free from any restraint and thusmay wave in an entirely naturalmanner.

The presence of. the halyards or other means for fastening the flag tothe staff will ordinarily prevent any tendency of the flag and thedevice to, make a complete rotation upon the staff. Should such completerota-.

tion take place, however, the flag will soon rotate back to normalposition, as the nontangling device here shown prevents the flag frombecoming wrapped upon the pole, thus leaving it free to rotate back tonormal position and the halyards will usually add a slight tension,which will expedite such re turn movement.

While my invention is particularly intended for use upon flags that aremounted with their staff in horizontal or nearly horizontal position, asthat is the class of flags that are most apt to become tangled, mydevice is entirely applicable upon flags that have their poles set at amuch greater angle to the horizontal plane than shown in Fig. l and mayin fact be used, if desired, upon poles that arevertical.

My device may be moved out and back upon the staff as the flag is putout or withdrawn, since the eye 14 may freely travel upon the staff 7and the double hook 20 or other fastening means connecting the flag tomy device communicates movement imparted to the'fiag by the halyards tothe device and so moves the halyards with the fla In the drawings I haveshown a convenient and the preferred form of making the main part of mydevice out of a single piece of wire or metal rod. The said wire or rodis bent about to-form the staff-inclosing loop 14 and then given acomplete twist to make said loop permanent and incidentally to providethe eye 21 to receive the hook 20 or other fastening means used toconnect the U-shaped member to the flag. From this point the arms 15 and16 separate the proper distance to receive the flag and then continuingoutward parallel or slightly di verging from each other as shown inFigs. 2 and 8. The eyes 18 at the end of each arm are formed by bendingthe wire or rod into the desired eye or other enlargement as indicated.

Fig. 5 shows on a small scale a flag permanently fastened to a staff andequipped with one of my devices. For smaller or cheaper flags used ingreat numbers for decorative purposes the flags are permanently securedto the staff as by being tacked to the stafl or inclosed in alongitudinal slot in the staff. For flags of this construction my deviceis mounted upon the staff preferably at the time the flag is securedthereto, with the arms straddling the flag as before mentioned.

It will be obvious that modifications may be made in the construction,arrangement and proportions of my device without departing from theclaims hereinafter set forth.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a non-tangling device for flags, the combination with a flag and apole, of a member loosely mounted on the pole and provided with two armsextending outward from the pole approximately in the same direction butspaced apart from each other and on opposite sides of the flag wherebythe flag is loosely held between the said arms.

2. A non-tangling device for use with a flag on a pole comprising anelongated U shaped member, loosely mounted at its base on the pole withits arms loosely straddling the flag intermediate its width.

3. A non-tangling device for use with a flag on a pole comprising anelongated U- shaped member, loosely mounted at its base on the pole withits arms loosely straddling the flag intermediate its width andextendiling out about half way of the length of the 4. A non-tanglingdevice for use with a flag on a pole comprising an elongated U- shapedmember, loosely mounted at its base on the pole with its arms looselystraddling the flag intermediate its width and means connecting the baseof the member to the adjacent edge of the flag whereby the U shapedmember is held in .place longitudinally of the staff edge of the flag.

5. In combination with a flag mounted on a pole to be movedlongitudinally thereof, a non-tangling device comprising an elongatedUshaped member mounted at its base to swing upon and move longitudinallyof the pole and having its arms loosely straddling the flag and meansconnecting the base of the U-shaped member to the flag intermediate itsstafi edge corners whereby the U-shaped member is held in positionrelative to the flag and will be moved therewith longitudinally of thepole.

6. In a device of the character described, a supporting pole, a flag anda guard pivotally mounted upon the pole and adapted to straddle the flagintermediate its edges.

7. In a device of the character described, a supporting pole, a guardmade of a single piece of wire bent in the form of a loop at the top forattachment to the pole and having depending forks adapted to straddlethe flag.

In witness whereof I have affixed my signature this 30th day of June,1917.

JOHN B. FOULKESQ Copies of this patent may be obtained for five centseach, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). 0.

